Clothing accessories have been utilized by almost every culture throughout history as a way to add variety and creativity to individual dress. Today there is a large, competitive international market for such clothing accessories. Neckties, or ties, and belts enjoy a particularly active market throughout the world. Marketing ties and belts require that they be labeled. Retailers would like to label these accessories with advertisements, size information, name of manufacturer, information on the material from which they are constructed, pricing information, etc. Not only do retailers want to label these items with colorful attention-grabbing labels, but they must also provide essential information to potential customers such as size and pricing information.
Currently available labeling techniques for belts and ties are plagued with several problems. For example, they do not provide sufficient surface area for all of the information that retailers would like to display on these items. State of the art slip-on labels for ties and belts are very limited in the quantity of highly visible surface area available to allow retailers to effectively display product promotion and advertising information to the consumer.
In addition, available labels for ties and belts are not secured to the item labeled and may be easily removed or slipped off the item. This problem is particularly critical for certain information such as size and/or pricing information. Whenever this type of information is removed from a tie or belt, salespeople and potential purchasers must take the time and effort to find the information elsewhere. To avoid this problem retailers often double label ties and belts: firstly, with a paper sleeve to capture consumer attention; and, secondly, with a more secure tag, for example one attached by a string or a plastic or nylon thread, containing pricing and/or size information. However, labeling ties and belts with a string or thread, is labor intensive, expensive, time consuming, and potentially damaging to fine fabrics that may snag on the rough surface of the plastic material commonly used to hang tags with pricing information. Furthermore, some of the more secure methods of labeling clothing accessories require actual penetration of the accessory with a hang tag. This type of labeling is damaging to the labeled item and is unsuitable for labeling fine quality clothing accessories.
Furthermore, since currently used slip-on labels easily slide up and down the tie or belt during display and handling, it is difficult for retailers to consistently display the labels at maximum visibility. Not only do slip-on labels risk being removed or slipping off the labeled item altogether, they require constant straightening and rearranging by sales personnel.
Accordingly, a need exists for an economical, convenient means of labeling ties and belts that is not easily or casually removed from its position on the labeled item. Such a label should provide sufficient space for advertising, consumer product information, and pricing information.